JP3234268B2 - Vending machine product transfer equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine which lifts and discharges discharged products to an upper product outlet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Application No. Hei.
No. 203667 has already been filed by the present applicant. The endless transport belt having claws is stretched by a belt driving pulley and a plurality of driven pulleys, and rotates in a certain direction when the product is delivered. Here, there are various shapes of the transport nails and a method of attaching the transport nails to the endless transport belt, and as shown in FIG. 6 as an example, two attachment legs 24a, 24a are provided.
The transporting claw 23 having the shape having
It can be seen that the belts are welded and fixed to the endless transport belt 13 with a and 24a.

[0003]

However, in the case of the conveying claw 23 having such a shape and mounting method, the endless conveying belt 1 is not provided.
When the vehicle 3 is traveling straight, the transport pawls 22B are formed in a natural shape as shown in FIG. 6, but are transported in the shape shown in FIG. The nail 23 changes its shape, and the tensile stress concentrates on the point C of the welded portions 25, 25, and it breaks due to fatigue due to repeated stress. Also, it may come off at the point C.

In view of the foregoing, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and has been improved to an endless transport belt having transport claws having excellent durability so that the product can be stably delivered over a long period of time. It is a carry-out device.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided an endless transport belt for transferring a product discharged from a product outlet provided at a lower portion of a product storage chamber to a product outlet provided above the product outlet. In a product conveying device of a vending machine that conveys by a conveying claw attached to the inside of a conveying belt, the conveying claw is formed of a material having appropriate flexibility and extends along a direction in which the endless conveying belt extends. A mounting portion extending to and attached to the endless transport belt; and a claw portion formed to protrude from an intermediate portion of the mounting portion, and a hole portion opened in a hollow shape is provided at a base portion of the claw portion. and
Things.

[0006]

The transfer claw is repeatedly subjected to stress deformation during the transfer in which the transfer direction changes from horizontal transfer to upward transfer. The transfer claw attached to the transfer belt has a base portion formed by a hole. Deforms to absorb the stress, does not cause stress concentration on the mounting surface, and increases the durability of the transport claw.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the main body 1 of the vending machine, there is a product storage room 2 surrounded by a heat insulating wall 2a. Inside the vending machine, a serpentine-type product storage column 3 is arranged in front and back of the vending machine. Are also juxtaposed in the width direction (left-right direction) of the main body 1. When there is a sales command, the product 4 in the product storage column 3 is discharged by the product sales device 5 provided below the product storage column 3, slides on the product chute 6, and is aligned with the insulated door 10 in the product storage room 2. Any one of the rolls 7 rolls out to the plurality of product outlets provided. The product outlet 7 is provided with a heat-insulating door 8 which is normally closed and opened and rotated forward by the discharged product 4.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a front door which is provided on the front of the main body 1 so as to be openable and closable. The front door 9 is provided with a product outlet 11 above, and receives the product 4 sent from the product outlet 7 to receive the product 4. Commodity transport device 1 that lifts and discharges to product outlet 11
2 are provided inside.

Next, the product transport device 12 will be described.

The belt 13 is wound around a belt driving pulley 14, a first driven pulley 15, a second driven pulley 16, and a plurality of third driven pulleys 17 arranged in an arc so as to form a substantially triangular shape. It is an endless transport belt that rotates in a fixed direction (arrow A) according to a command. A pulley driving motor (not shown) is provided to rotate the belt driving pulley 14 (arrow B). In this case, the endless transport belt 13 extends horizontally at the lower position corresponding to the product outlet 7 to form a triangular base, and extends at the product outlet 11 to become a vertex.
The product outlet 7 and the product outlet 11 are arranged in a substantially triangular shape formed by 3.

A first guide member 19 composed of two guide rail plates 18, 18 is disposed along the inside of the endless transport belt 13 on a traveling path where the endless transport belt 13 moves horizontally, and a horizontal portion 19A is provided. And a continuous arcuate warp portion 19B at the left end thereof. Then, the two guide rail plates 18 and 18 have an appropriate interval in the horizontal portion 19A so that the product 4 delivered from the product delivery port 7 can be placed on the endless transport belt 13 located below the horizontal portion. We take and arrange. Accordingly, the product 4 is received by the pair of guide rail plates 18 and 18 and is also placed on the endless transport belt 13 and slides on the guide rail plates 18 and 18 in the horizontal direction (left ). From the transfer end (left end), the warped portion 1
At 9B and 19B, the commodity 4 is warped and is conveyed upward as a supine posture. In the warp portions 19B, 19B,
The surfaces of the guide rails 18 and 18 are inclined surfaces that are inclined inwardly and low. Here, the aforementioned third driven pulley 1
7 are provided along the back surface of the warped portion 19B,
The smooth rotation of the endless conveyor belt 13 is performed.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a second guide member comprising a single guide rail plate provided so as to communicate between the conveying end of the guide member 19 and the product outlet 11, and the first guide member 19 is provided at one end. And the same arc-shaped warped portion 21B facing the warped portions 19B, 19B. And both warping parts 1
When the product 4 rises between 9B and 21B, the product 4 is received and supported by the inclined plate portion 19A, and the conveyance of the product 4 to the product outlet 11 is guided. The upper surface of the guide rail plate is formed as a slope inclined inwardly from each other so that the product 4 can be stably supported and transported. By the way, in order to convey the goods 4 sent to the conveying end of the first guide member 19 to the conveying end of the first guide member 19 by the endless conveying belt 13, the endless conveying belt 13 is formed of urethane rubber or the like. A transport claw 22 having appropriate flexibility is attached to the inside by welding. The transport claw 22 contacts the rear end of the product 4 and
While pushing up and transporting.

Here, the endless conveyor belt 13 includes a belt driving pulley 14, first to third driven pulleys 15, 16 and 1,
7, the transfer direction is changed. Accordingly, the stress deformation of the transport claw 22 is repeated when passing through each of the pulleys 14, 15, 16, and 17.

In order to improve the shape, the mounting method, and the durability in order to avoid stress concentration, the transporting pawl 22 has a mounting portion 22B which is entirely welded to the inner surface of the endless transporting belt 13 as shown in FIG. A claw portion 22A protruding from the center of the mounting portion 22B, and a base portion of the claw portion 22A proximate to the mounting portion 22B relieves stress due to deformation of the claw portion 22A and deformation of the mounting portion 22B. And a hole 26 opened in a hollow shape. That is, the transport claw 22 has a one-sided mounting portion 22B extending forward and backward at a lower portion, and the mounting portion 22B is attached to the transport belt 13 by welding over the entire surface, and a hole for releasing stress concentration is provided. A part 26 is provided. When the transporting pawls 22 of this shape are welded to the endless transporting belt 13 over the entire surface, when the transporting pawls 22 pass through the driven pulleys 15, 16, 17 or the belt driving pulley 14, they are as shown in FIG. 7, a place where stress concentrates is not seen in the welding surface 27 as shown in FIG. However, stress concentration is observed at the portion D shown in FIG. 5, but the presence of the hole 26 and the direction of the stress are the extending directions of the transfer claw 22 itself made of urethane rubber or the like with a flexible material. The effect is not strong and the durability is excellent. In particular, after the product 4 is laterally fed to the transport end of the first guide member 19 by the endless transport belt 13, the product 4 comes into contact with the rear end of the product 4, and the transport claw 22 that pushes up along the warp portions 19 </ b> B, 19 </ b> B. Although strong stress deformation acts, the degree of deformation can be reduced.

In this way, the product 4 that has rolled out of the product delivery port 7 is slid over the first guide member 19 by the endless transport belt 13, and is temporarily suspended at the transport end, while the transport claw is stopped. 22 is the rear end of the product 4,
The product 4 is pushed up by the movement of and the warped portions 19B, 21
After passing through B, it is delivered to the second guide member 21 and sent out to the product outlet 11. When the sale of the product 4 is detected by the product detection means arranged in the product outlet 11, the pulley drive motor is stopped, one sale is completed, and the next sale is waited.

[0017]

As described above, the conveying belt is rotated by the sales command, the discharged product is fed sideways, and the conveying claw having a moderate flexibility attached inside the endless conveying belt. The endless transport belt is stretched by a belt driving pulley and a plurality of driven pulleys, and the transport direction can be changed by each of the pulleys. Therefore, the transport claws also repeatedly stress concentrate at the change point of the transport, causing fatigue damage.However, according to the present invention, the method of mounting the transport claws to the endless transport belt by completely welding the mounting surface thereof is described. On the other hand, empty
Since the stress concentration is released by forming the sinusoidal holes , the durability is improved, and the product can be stably carried out even during long-term use .

[0018]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a vending machine provided with a product transport device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view of the vending machine.

FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view of the product conveying device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a mounting structure of a transport claw and an endless transport belt according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining that stress concentration occurring at a change point in the transport direction can be avoided by the method of mounting the transport claw according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a mounting structure diagram of a transport claw showing an example in which stress is concentrated and the transport claw is not suitable for mounting.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing that stress concentration is more strongly affected by the method of attaching the transfer claws shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Commodity storage column 4 Commodity 7 Commodity delivery port 11 Commodity take-out 13 Endless transport belt 14 Belt drive pulley 15 First driven pulley 16 Second driven pulley 17 Third driven pulley 22 Transport claw

Continuation of front page (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07F 11/58 101 G07F 11/00 B65G 15/42

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An endless transport belt for transferring a product discharged from a product outlet provided at a lower portion of a product storage chamber to a product outlet provided above the product outlet, and an inner side of the endless transport belt .
In a product conveying device of a vending machine that conveys by a conveying claw attached to a vending machine, the conveying claw is formed of a material having appropriate flexibility and extends along an extending direction of the endless conveying belt. An automatic vending machine comprising: a mounting portion attached to the endless conveyor belt; and a claw portion formed to protrude from an intermediate portion of the mounting portion, and a hollow opening provided in a base portion of the claw portion. Machine product transfer device.